


Making Up For Lost Time

by RedTailedHawkens



Series: Birthdays And Harry Potter [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Daddyfire, Episode: s02e15 The Queen Is Dead, Gen, Harry Potter References, Henry is clever, Henry loves books, Missing Scene, Swanfire - Freeform, papafire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28137024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedTailedHawkens/pseuds/RedTailedHawkens
Summary: Neal wants to get Henry a late birthday present. What does Henry want?
Relationships: Baelfire | Neal Cassidy & Henry Mills, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy & Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy/Emma Swan, Henry Mills & Emma Swan
Series: Birthdays And Harry Potter [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2061342
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	Making Up For Lost Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elisexyz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elisexyz/gifts).



> This is for your birthday. I was going to do a different one, which I saved, but it was just Emma and Henry; Neal wasn’t in it. If you’d like that one for next year, I can save it. So, yeah. Happy Birthday.

This was going okay. It was weird and hard, but okay. Neal bought him pizza, and he was taking him to a museum, and it was all going great. Except for the part where he had missed the first eleven years of this kid’s life, of course. And the way that Emma kept looking over at them apprehensively like she expected him to bolt. But he couldn’t think about that now. He had to think about Henry, and how he could make it right. He _had_ to make it right.

“So, I was thinking I might have to try and buy my way into your heart.” He said, smirking so Henry knew he was mostly joking, “Can you be bought?” Henry laughs, shaking his head, “Well, at least let me try. I’ve got, what, eleven birthdays to make up for?”

“You don’t have to make up for anything. I’m cool just hanging out with you.”

“Good. I’m cool with hanging out too. But someone once told me you should never turn down free gifts, and something about a horse's mouth.” Again, Henry was laughing. It was the most glorious sight and sound Neal had ever heard, “Come on, there must be something you want?”

“Well, I like comics.”

“Comics, huh?”

“Yeah. And books. Where we live, Storybrooke, it’s cursed so, it’s not like we ever get new books. Except the Storybook, which is magic. And Harry Potter.”

“How’d Harry Potter make the cut?”

“Mom brought an old battered copy with her when she moved there. She says there are others, but that was the only one she had. I don’t know why.”

Neal felt the floor fall out from under him. He stopped walking for a millisecond, then started again. He had to keep walking. Because Henry seemed like a bright kid, and he would notice. He would ask. And Emma clearly hadn’t wanted him to know where that book came from. And maybe it wasn’t the same copy. Maybe she’d trashed it and gotten her own. Or maybe she’d just kept it because she loved the book. But then why not have the rest in the series? Why only have book one?

“Do you think she brought it with her?’ Neal asks casually, wanting to get a look.

Henry shakes his head, “She doesn’t have it anymore.”

And his heart sinks, “Chucked it for a new book, huh?”

“No. She gave it to me.”

“Oh.” He looks over at Emma, who tries to pretend she wasn’t staring at the two of them, “Look, maybe you could do me a favor.”

“What?”

“Cut your mom some slack? I mean, she shouldn’t have lied, but-”

“There’s no but to that. It wasn’t okay.”

“It wasn’t. But you mean so much to her. That’s pretty clear. I know she loves you, and I know she’s trying. She’s one of the good ones, your mom. You don’t want time to pass without her in your life. It su-er-stinks, not having her around.”

“Are you going to forgive _your_ dad?”

“That’s … different.”

Henry shrugs, “I don’t see how. You mean a lot to him. He loves you. He’s sorry. But you haven’t forgiven him.”

“A lot more damage was done. I’m talking years. And when he did what he did, it wasn’t because he loved me.” Neal shakes his head, “But you don’t need to hear about all that. Honestly, I’m not thrilled you’re all acquainted.”

“Mr. Gold, Rumpelstiltskin, isn’t so bad.”

“Ring endorsement, huh? Well, your mom’s more than not so bad. She’s the best.”

“Are you still in love with her?”

Neal had never been so grateful to make it to his building. Emma and his father caught up with them, now that they had reached their destination, “Let’s go get you that camera, huh?”


End file.
